-
President Thomas Jefferson buys the Louisiana Territory from France for $15 million. This doubles the size of the United States and provides a large area to the west of the country for expansion. (This image is a picture of what was purchased in 1804)
-
Lewis and Clark Begin there exploration of the Louisiana Purchase.
-
Lewis and Clark map out areas of the Louisiana Purchase and eventually reach the Pacific Ocean after a year and few months of travilng from coast to coast
-
Congress passes a law to move Native Americans that lived on unsettaled land southeast to the west of the mississippi river
-
The Cherokee Nation is forced to march from the east coast to Oklahoma. four thousand out of the fifth-teen thousand died along the way. ( This is one personsspective of what the trail of tears looked like)
-
People begin to travel west in wagon and trains on the oregon trail. Around 300,00 people would travel the trail over the next 20 years.
-
Journalist John O'Sullivan first uses the term "Manifest Destiny" to describe the westward expansion of the United States.
-
A war fought over the rights to Texas. After the war, the United States paid Mexico $15 million for land that would later become California, Texas, Arizona, Nevada, Utah, and parts of several other states.
-
England signs the Oregon Treaty handing over the Oregon Territory to the United States.
-
James Marshall discovers gold at Sutter's Mill. Soon word is out and people rush to California to strike it rich.
